StarFox 64 -N64- 8.5

May 13, 2025

     StarFox64 released for the Nintendo64 in June of 1997, just after I graduated from the eighth grade. I had played and loved the original StarFox for Super Nintendo when I was in the fourth grade, but I never got around to playing the sequel until now, in 2025 at the age of 42. Starfox64 is a classic that many Nintendo fans hold in high regard, and I had a lot of fun finally experiencing it for myself this past week.

     The visuals and presentation are excellent, especially for a game this old. StarFox64 has aged really well, and still looks great today. The graphics are vibrant and polished, with little slowdown. The animal characters you fly around with are charming, with delightfully cheesy voice work and endlessly quotable one-liners. It’s cornball, but it’s good cornball. And it’s also neat how you can zoom in with the camera for a cockpit view, although I kept the camera outside the ship a vast majority of the time.

     In one afternoon of playing StarFox64, I was able to reach the first ending on the easiest of three branching paths. It was a piece of cake, and I only died twice in the one hour of playtime. However, the game was far from over. You simply do not see everything the campaign has to offer in a single run to the end screen. Beating the stages multiple times to unlock different routes through the other two paths provides substantial replay value and surprising challenge for StarFox64. I spent four more days performing all the necessary tasks and choices to play through all the levels the single player mode had to offer. Venom II is the 2-part final stage at the end of the hard path, and it initially seemed impossible with its insane difficulty spike. But after five total days of practice, I felt like a pro with my skills. Always tightly turning, preemptively summersaulting, only rapid shooting with your standard laser, and a lot of patience are key to eliminating the Star Wolf team in the first half of Venom II. After conquering them, I moved on to the second half of Venom II to defeat the true final boss and witness the second ending. That final level of StarFox64 is definitely one of the hardest bits I have seen from any cart in the N64 library.

     StarFox64 is a terrific game for all ages. Flying the arwing controls beautifully, and discovering the numerous secrets and starways to new planets and galaxies was awesome. There were even some levels where you step out of the arwing and travel on land or underwater, which was very cool. And for the most part, this is an on-rails shooter, but certain sections allow you to soar freely in an open space. I rate StarFox64 an 8.5 out of ten. I normally prefer side-scrolling shoot ‘em ups on a 2D plane to 3D on-rails shooters, but this is still one of the best of its genre.